Rangefinder Magazine
January 2006

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Photoshop CS2 How² Michelle Perkins
Preferences: New Choices id Photoshop CS2

1 The Preferences menu

2 To restore the preferences to their default settings, press and hold Opt- Cmd-Shift (Alt-Ctrl-Shift in Windows) as you start Photoshop. Then hit Yes in the dialog box that appears.

3 The General Preferences

4 The small UI Font Size setting (left) and the large setting (right)

5 The File Handling Preferences

6 Images larger than 30,000 pixels in any dimension are incompatible with older versions of Photoshop. When you try to save an image this large,

7 the PSB, RAW and TIF selections will be the only formats available in the Save As Dialog box.

8 The Save As dialog box with the Large Document Format selected

9 The Use Adobe Dialog button in the Open dialog box

10 The Display and Cursors Preferences

11 With the hardness set at zero, the Normal Brush Tip (left) shows where the applied color will begin to fade. The Full Size Brush Tip setting provides a cursor that shows the entire area that will be affected by the brush stroke.

12 The Show Crosshair in Brush Tip setting allows you to quickly identify the exact center of a brush.

13 Click on the warning triangle at the top right corner of the Histogram palette for a histogram based on the fullsized image rather than a cached version.

14 Memory and Cache Preferences

15 The Type Preferences

16 With the Font Preview Size setting active, you can see a sample of each entry in the font menu.

In Photoshop, “preferences” are stored program settings for general display options, file-saving options, cursor options, transparency options, and options for plug-ins and scratch disks. Most of these options are set in the Preferences dialog box (Photoshop > Preferences on a Mac—figure 1—or Edit > Preferences on Windows). These settings are saved each time you quit the application.

While many Photoshop users elect to leave the preferences at their default settings— perhaps because the sheer number of options available can be a little intimidating— learning to use the preferences effectively can enhance the program’s performance and ease of use. Additionally, you’ll find that unexpected behavior (on Photoshop’s part, not yours!) may indicate damaged or incorrectly set preferences. If you suspect a problem with the preferences, knowing how to respond can get you back to work more quickly. If all else fails, you can always restore the preferences to their default settings. To do this, simply press and hold Option-Command-Shift (Alt-Control-Shift on Windows) as you start Photoshop. You will be prompted to delete the current settings, and new preferences files will be created the next time you start Photoshop (figure 2).

General Preferences

In Photoshop CS2, Adobe added several new preferences settings that photographers should be aware of. We’ll start our look at these by reviewing changes to the General Preferences (figure 3).

UI Font Size (figure 4): This setting allows you to control the size of the text that appears in palettes. If you’re using a very high-resolution monitor, this can help keep the fonts at a legible size and reduce eyestrain. You’ll need to restart Photoshop after changing this setting in order to put it into effect.

Resize Image During Paste/Place (see figure 3): This setting causes Photoshop 70 to scale large images that are pasted into a smaller document. This can save you the trouble of having to zoom out and manually scale the image. If you choose to apply this setting, keep in mind that the change it produces is automatic (you can’t opt out on a case-by-case basis), so you’ll need to remember to turn this setting off on occasions when you need to keep your pasted/placed image at the larger size.

Automatically Launch Bridge (see figure 3): In CS2, Bridge replaces the File Browser. Because it’s a stand-alone application, it must be launched separately when you open Photoshop. If you rely on Bridge for organizing your images, activating this preference will save you a step and get you working faster. If you don’t use Bridge, leave this box unchecked.

Zoom with Scroll Wheel (see figure 3): Most two-button mice now feature a scroll wheel. Using this preference setting, you can employ that scroll wheel to zoom in or out on your image. It’s especially useful when combined with the Shift key, which allows you to scroll through the best image magnifications—like 25, 50, 100, 200, and 400% views.

File Handling

In the File Handling Preferences (figure 5), there are two changes in Photoshop CS2 that photographers should be aware of. These are not new options, but rather changes to the default settings of existing preferences.

Enable Large Document Format (.psb) (figures 6 and 7): Although you may never encounter an image that exceeds it, the .psd format that many photographers rely on is actually limited to images with file sizes less than 2G or 30,000 pixels in any dimension. Should your file grow beyond this limit, the folks at Adobe have devised an alternate image file format: .psb. (Why didn’t they just increase the cap on the .psd format? It would have caused incompatibilities with older versions of Photoshop.)

The .psb format (Large Document Format) supports images up to 300,000 pixels in any dimension. The format first appeared in Photoshop CS, but it had to be enabled by the user; in Photoshop CS2, this preference is on by default and the file format can be accessed in the Save As dialog box (figure 8). Keep in mind that documents saved in this format cannot be opened in Photoshop 7 or earlier.

Version Cue Workgroup File Management: If you own the Adobe Creative Suite, you’ll find Version Cue packaged with it (it is not included with Photoshop as a stand-alone product). Version Cue allows you to store multiple versions of an image and quickly switch between them. This preference is, again, not new in Photoshop CS2, but it is now active as the default setting and causes a Use Adobe Dialog button to appear in the Open and Save dialog boxes (figure 9). Clicking this button gives you access to Version Cue features.

Display & Cursors

In CS2, you’ll find two new options in the Display & Cursors field (figure 10).

Full Size Brush Tip: With the Normal Brush Tip setting selected, the circular indicator that appears when using brush tools denotes the point at which the color (or image data) you are painting onto the image will begin to fade out. Therefore, the areas of your image affected by each stroke actually extend beyond the edge of the circle (provided the hardness of the brush is set at less than 100%).

With the Full Size Brush Tip setting selected, the circular brush indicator covers the entire area that will be affected by each brush stroke (figure 11). As you can imagine, this can be a great asset when retouching images, since you don’t have to worry about painted-on colors or image data “spilling” out into areas where it isn’t needed. If you’re accustomed to working with the Normal setting, you can expect this change to take a little getting used to, but it’s worth the effort.

Show Crosshair in Brush Tip (figure 12): Here’s a preference setting that does just what it says—puts a crosshair in the center of your brush. This is useful when you need to see the exact center of the brush.

Memory & Image Cache

As in the File Handling Preferences, there is a new default setting here. One setting has also been eliminated.

Cache Settings: When you open an image in Photoshop, multiple versions of the image are created and stored. Called cached images, these versions allow for faster screen redraws when zooming in and out on images. In CS2, the default Cache Levels setting increased from four to six. This causes images to open a little more slowly since more cache images have to be created. It also makes the Histogram palette a little less accurate (but faster) as you zoom out on your image. (To compensate, click on the warning triangle at the top right corner of the Histogram palette for a histogram based on the full-sized image—figure 13.)

Use Cache for Histograms: This option has been removed in CS2, so the histogram in the Levels dialog box is always based on the full-sized image.

Memory Usage (figure 14): In CS2, the amount of memory (RAM) reserved for Photoshop has increased from 50 to 70%. This helps Photoshop run faster. (Note: Setting this higher than 70% can actually make Photoshop run slower since the program can end up fighting with your operating system for the available memory.)

Type

In CS2, all of the preferences settings for type have moved from the General category to their own field in the Preferences dialog box (figure 15). The only addition to the Type preferences is the Font Preview Size setting, which lets you preview each font when using the font selection menu with the Type tool (figure 16).

So, there you have it—a quick overview of the preference updates in Photoshop CS2. As you work through these changes and decide on the settings that make sense for you, take a look at the other options available. You’ll probably find some that can improve your Photoshop experience and make your workflow a little smoother!